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The wizards’ archives. Oh, the wizards’ archives.
Sea Nymph Cookie grit his teeth at petty thoughts running around like dogs in his head as he took a deep breath before continuing. What was it that he was looking for, again? Anything fictional, that’s for sure. It’s not that reality was boring, but how the idea delighted him, to see what the beautifully bright minds of cookies have come up with over all this time. He could already feel his heart stir with a warmth he knew for certain was happiness.
“Hello there, Dear!”
That loud, eager voice in such a silent library had certainly caught the aquatic cookie off guard. His heart practically jumped out of his chest as he clutched his sword the hardest he ever had that day. He turned his head at a discomforting speed, an anger in his gaze under the pretense that he knew this cookie. Though, that’s not the way to be looking at that particular cookie, is it?
To his surprise, it wasn’t that particular cookie at all. Where Sea Nymph Cookie expected darker shades of blue had actually been lighter shades of pink. Her hair was curly, not wavy, and two sets of wings rested on her body. The feathery pair in particular had a scent that smelled ever so slightly different from the rest of her body, as if someone else had been preening them for her. Sea Nymph Cookie let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and simply waved back, but the grip on his sword did not loosen.
“Ah, what happened to the passion I felt in your heart just now~?” The stranger inquired. “Tell me, what prompted that sunny look in your eye beforehand…? I’ve been there many times~!”
“Oh…” He glanced back at the books lining the shelves, and then at her again, the resentment dissipating in an instant. “It’s… I just… love cookies so much… I’ll give anything to protect the warmth of their hearts…”
“Why, me too! By the way… I simply adore your headpiece!” She clasped her hands together. “…What is it?”
“This…? It’s a crown.”
Sea Nymph Cookie then removed his crown from his head and rotated it in his hands, giving his visitor a better look at it from every angle. He put it back on his head with no issue as his eyes fell onto her headpiece as well. A circlet of sorts of a rosy metal with horn-like protrusions, and a pink gem that he immediately looked away from and tried to ignore; something was off about it in a way he couldn’t quite explain, a pit of disquieting dread filling up in his stomach.
“Ah, I see!”
Her gaze fluttered away from him for a moment and onto the books lining the shelves behind the two of them. Her eyes began to soften as a quiet yet sweet laugh left her mouth as she brought her attention back to the aquatic cookie.
“Do you by chance have a favorite light novel?”
Oh, right, he remembered now. This was the light novel section. Granted, Sea Nymph Cookie couldn’t actually remember the last time he got to sit down and read a proper book until now. Suppose being frozen for a hundred days straight would do that to someone. What was it about light novels that drew him in? Was it the creative bonus of breathtaking art and evocative writing all at once? He could have been moved to tears at the thought right here and now, but he took another deep breath in and out as the stranger continued to eagerly bore into him.
“Hm… Perhaps When COOKIE Was One.”
“So interesting! I’ve never heard of that one, to be honest!” She replied. “My pride and joy’s shelves have been lacking in the light novel department, so all recommendations are highly appreciated~!”
“I see…”
“Say, I find that your heart has a passion unlike any other I’ve seen!”
Sea Nymph Cookie wasn’t able to find the words for the sudden shift in the conversation, and even if he did, the stranger simply continued talking.
“You see, my pride and joy is my home! The pure paradise I’ve cultivated for many, many years!”
When he did find the words, they came out rather stiff. “Oh, really…? Congrats.”
“Why, thank you~! It’s a paradise unlike no other, and I believe that heart of yours would flourish to the fullest if you chose to pay a visit~!” Either she didn’t notice the stiffness, or harbored her own potent stubbornness to boot.
“…No thanks.”
This didn’t dissuade her at all. “Now, what’s your name?”
“Sea Nymph Cookie.” He stood so rigidly still, he might as well still be frozen. “…Of the seas.”
“Sea Nymph Cookie… I really do adore that name!”
She picked up on the sweetness in her voice after that.
“That name, that blade… Are you by chance a deity? So am I~!” She pointed at her circlet’s gem, causing Sea Nymph Cookie to hold his breath and look away once more. “While you guard the oceans, I guard and grant the happiness of all cookies~!”
The stranger held out her hand. Sea Nymph Cookie did not take it.
“I smell sweat on you… aren’t you bored working so hard all the time?”
“Not really.”
“Is nothing but the ocean getting unfun to look at every now and then?”
“Not really.”
“If there’s something you wish to see so dearly, I may have it~!” The stranger added on. “You said you love the joy of cookies, yes? Come and see the fruits of all my hard work~!”
He saw the joy in the cookies of Sugarteara all the time, not to mention visitors every now and then beaming with a passion of their own. Maybe in another timeline, this was a tempting offer.
“Not interested.”
“What was your name again?”
“Sea Nymph Cookie.”
“Yes, yes…”
Her gaze narrowed at his unwavering monotone voice, but her smile stayed. It seemed as though she finally realized he wouldn’t budge. Her hand hovered over her lyre.
“A song before we part ways?”
“No thanks.”
“Suit yourself!” The hand about to play the strings left the vicinity of her instrument and waved to him. “Goodbye, Sea Nymph Cookie~!”
“…Bye.”
With that, the stranger parted, her sickeningly fragrant wings fluttering off somewhere else in the archives, where she may perhaps find another, more willing guest to invite to her garden. Sea Nymph Cookie briefly skimmed the shelves of light novels as quickly as he could, realizing nothing here was something that stood out to him enough, and deciding now was a good time to leave the archives.
As he left the building and took to ride on a wave of his own in the city’s freezing breeze, he couldn’t stop his mind from racing again. That cookie sure was persistent, but all of his responses were… extremely stiff. Like a wooden board, just about everything out of his mouth was absolutely nothing compared to what she had to say. Was he always like this? Is this how cookies are supposed to act? Should he ask his dearest high regent about this? What’s wrong with him?
Well, that’s all in the past now, he supposed. All he could do now was yawn as he made the journey back to his vast, aquatic domain with no books in hand.